Archive for the ‘Saab 95’ tag

Earlier this week, I received a surprise package from min vän in Sweden, Claes Rydholm. Claes explained that he has decided to sell off his collection of car brochures, only keeping a few of his favorites. This retired manager of Volvo Cars Heritage didn’t have much in his Saab file, but he decided to share with me the oldest and most charming piece, this small (roughly 6 x 4 inches, folded), full-color English-language brochure created for export markets. It highlights the workaday 96, practical seven-passenger 95 wagonette and the racy, triple-carbureted Saab Sport, known in America as the GT850, and all were powered by Saab’s famous three-cylinder, two-stroke engine.

We have to wonder if that fantastic kiddie car is powered by a two-stroke or tiny feet… release your inner Eric Carlsson, little guy!

Knowing my predilection for Swedish iron, Hemmings’ own West Coast Associate Editor Jeff Koch shared the above image, which he took of a 1967 Saab 95 crossing the block at the Gooding & Company event. I was not only surprised to find a V-4-powered Saab at one of the big-dollar Scottsdale auctions, but this very shiny example – one with numerous Mercedes-Benz-derived custom touches! – brought a whopping $40,700, on a no-reserve sale.

Like all older Saabs, the 95 is an acquired taste, but it’s an undeniably neat and clever little package. Good examples don’t turn up often, but when they do, they receive some attention, like the former Saab Cars North America Heritage Collection 95, a pristine original 1972 model, which rustled up bids to the tune of $16,550 in 2011.

In its auction catalog, Gooding wrote that this black plate California 95 had been driven only 10 miles since its photo-documented restoration.